The new BC Green Party leader Emily Lowan has announced her first new policy since she took over the party’s leadership.
This policy she has proposed would bring progressive tax reform to BC, resulting in the ultra-rich paying more with the resulting influx of money going towards services and “good, green jobs.”
“BC’s richest corporations and the 1% have exploited our hollowed tax system for my entire lifetime, with working people footing the bill,” said Lowan.
“This government must choose which side they’re on: the side of austerity and oligarchs, or the side of the working class.”
In her policy outline, Lowan and the BC Greens have identified seven paths they deem viable for reforming BC’s taxation policies that would keep things fair, pay off the deficit and allow for more services to be provided by the Province.
See Lowan’s proposed tax policy below:
- Introduce three new personal income tax brackets and increase the current top two tax brackets by 1 point
- Implement an ‘Ultra-Wealthy Fairness Tax’ — A one-time 5% wealth tax on all centimillionaires and billionaires in the province
- Introduce an ‘Inheritance Tax’ for lifetime gifts and transfers over $5 million, including non-liquid assets such as residential property and art
- Implement a ‘Land Value Tax’ to replace the existing property tax system, with tax breaks for low to middle-income households and senior home-owners at risk of displacement
- Restore the pre-2006 corporate tax rate for large businesses over three years
- Implement an ‘Excess Profits Tax’ on corporate earnings over $1 billion
- Review the Province’s royalty systems for profit on natural resource extraction
The new tax brackets she would introduce would only impact those who make more than $350,000 per year. Currently the top tax bracket in BC impacts all those who make above $259,829 in a year.
Lowan would implement the $350,000 tax bracket (with a tax rate of 24%), one for those who make $500,000 (with a tax rate of 27%) and lastly, a tax bracket for those who make upwards of $1 million (with a tax rate of 30%).
Currently, those who make over $1 million a year are taxed at the same rate as those who make $259,829, at just 20.5%.
“BC has the highest income inequality in Canada,” Lowan explained.
“During their eight years in power, the BC NDP has barely tinkered at the edges, instead of building a truly progressive tax system. The result is an avoidable, austerity-driven disaster.”
She added that she believes tax justice is poised to become a defining issue in the lead-up to the next election.
